A flow is a set of packets, sent over a network within a determined period of time, that share certain attributes. Traditionally, a flow is defined as a five-tuple or seven-tuple of packet header attributes. The packet header attributes making up a conventional five-tuple flow include a source address, source port, destination address, destination port, and protocol; and the packet attributes making up a conventional seven-tuple flow additionally include a class of service and router or switch interface. This packet header or network information is typically collected by networking devices (e.g., switches, routers, gateways, firewalls, deep packet inspectors, traffic monitors, load balancers, etc.) as packets pass through the devices. Network and security administrators utilize this network information for management tasks such as anomaly detection (e.g., network attacks and misconfiguration), asset management (e.g., monitoring, capacity planning, consolidation, migration, and continuity planning), and compliance (e.g. conformance with governmental regulations, industry standards, and corporate policies). Although network or packet header information can provide valuable insights into network behavior, additional data regarding flows may be needed to improve existing network management operations and/or to support new network functions.